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Mailer, mailer pants on fire

The New York Republican State Committee’s mailer madness has struck again, and this time the target is Josh Lafazan, the Democratic nominee for the Nassau County Legislature’s 18th District.

A flyer surfaced this week stating that Lafazan, 23, is “all about the party.” It strings together a set of disconnected (or questionable) facts and hijacked photos to imply Lafazan likes to use public funds to woo the ladies with pricey travel.

The mailer says that Lafazan, a Syosset school board member since he was 18, took taxpayer-funded trips to New Orleans, Nashville, Denver, Boston, Buffalo, Rochester and New York City. It features three pictures of Lafazan socializing that were stripped from his Facebook page without his permission or the permission of the other people pictured.

But the pictures weren’t taken on those trips, according to Lafazan, who says they are from high school and predate his election to the school board. The trips were to education conferences, which are commonly attended by school board members and are approved by the school board.

As for the accusation in the flyer that Lafazan missed 17 school board meetings in the past five years, he says he missed only two. The accusation has been repeated by Lafazan’s opponent, Republican incumbent Legis. Donald MacKenzie. However, the meeting minutes MacKenzie sent to the Newsday editorial board show Lafazan attending many meetings MacKenzie claims he missed, in some cases arriving late.

This is the second ugly mailer hullabaloo this week for the state Republican committee. A piece it sent out on behalf of GOP Nassau County executive candidate Jack Martins claims Democratic opponent Laura Curran will “roll out the welcome mat for violent gangs like MS-13,” and features pictures of terrifying, heavily tattooed gang members.

Will these tactics scare voters away from Lafazan and Curran, anger them into voting against Martins and MacKenzie, or disgust them into staying home Tuesday?

The Point’s crystal ball is at the shop. We’re as curious as you are.

Lane Filler

Rare Point

A cartooning first

For the first time in our memory, all four Newsday-amNewYork cartoonists were in the same room. They gathered on Wednesday night at the opening reception of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists Convention, which is being held this year at Hofstra University. From left, at the Cradle of Aviation Museum, are our cartoonists, Matt Bodkin, Jimmy Margulies, Matt Davies and Mark Wilson. Follow what’s going on at the convention here.